YMCA to sell Glace Bay building

The YMCA of Cape Breton informed tenants in the YMCA Enterprise Centre in Glace Bay last week that it intends to sell the building, potentially listing it by June. The YMCA, which has owned and operated the building since 1987, occupies about 30 per cent of the space. YMCA of Cape Breton CEO Andre Gallant says his organization never intended to become a landlord and doesn’t have the resources to continue to do so. - Sharon Montgomery-Dupe

Timeline of listing property remains uncertain

GLACE BAY, N.S.

The YMCA of Cape Breton intends to put its Glace Bay enterprise centre on the market this spring as it does not fit the mandate of the non-profit organization.

The eight tenants in the building were informed of the decision last Friday, YMCA of Cape Breton CEO Andre Gallant said.

Gallant said several steps must be taken first before listing the property for sale including working with the Cape Breton Regional Municipality to waive its right of first refusal to purchase the property for $1.

“If we want to proceed with the sale, we have to get a waiver of that provision. We have to offer it back to CBRM but clearly we don’t want to sell it for $1,” Gallant said, Thursday.

The YMCA board of directors instructed Gallant to write a letter informing the CBRM clerk’s office it requests a hearing before council.

The former town of Glace Bay donated the property to the YMCA, and new provisions were added to the deed at the time of municipal amalgamation in 1996. The CBRM gave the property to the YMCA of Cape Breton for $1, with the deed stating that if the YMCA was to sell it, the municipality would have first right of refusal to buy it back for $1.

The YMCA has received a building appraisal but it’s too early to say when the property at 106 Reserve St. will be put up for sale. The property is assessed at $207,400 commercial tax-exempt status — which dates back to provincial legislation from 1886, the time of the founding of the young men’s Christian charity in Cape Breton.

When the YMCA Enterprise Centre opened in 1987, the building was occupied fully by YMCA or YMCA-supported programs and services, all related to economic development, entrepreneurship or employment services.

The YMCA now houses employment services as a Nova Scotia Works Employment Services Centre, taking up about 30 per cent of the building’s footprint.

Tenants take up the remainder of the space and include the office for the Vince Ryan recreational hockey tournament, Coastal Community Radio Co-operative, MNP Ltd. debt solution service, London Life and Supportive Living Society. Space has also been rented out for first aid, CPR and other training courses.

The Cape Breton Post also has an office in the building which houses one reporter to cover the Glace Bay, Dominion, New Waterford and surrounding areas.

Gallant said YMCA resources are being used to keep the building viable as it’s not large enough to support a position of property manager.

Concerns about the upkeep of the building are often handled by the employees in the YMCA employment centre.

Unlike other commercial properties, there is no capital renewal fund to handle ongoing repairs and renovations to the building, Gallant said.

“In an ideal situation, a company puts aside a certain amount of money for depreciation every year so that when you need to replace all of your windows, you’ve got the cash to do it,” he said.

About four years ago the property underwent “significant” renovations including having its roof, floors, windows, and siding replaced. There was also abatement for mould found underneath the flooring. Grants from the provincial and federal governments helped to cover much of the cost, said Gallant.

It’s not an ideal situation to rely on government funding to pay for maintenance projects, he added.

“We’re simply not set up to act as a landlord.”

Regardless of whether or not the YMCA’s employment services will have to leave the building due to a sale, the office will remain in Glace Bay.

Gallant said Employment Nova Scotia provides a contribution to the YMCA of Cape Breton to operate the Nova Scotia Works Employment Services Centre out of the building.

“The rent will be covered. We don’t know where the location will be. In an ideal situation, we sell the building to someone who’s interested in continuing it as a commercial property and we can stay put and just write a rent cheque to somebody else as opposed to ourselves.”

He said the YMCA membership will have to vote on the sale of the building and that could take place as late as June when the organization holds its annual general meeting.

Most tenants are taking the news of the impending sale in stride.

Little is known on how much a sale will impact groups such as the Vince Ryan hockey tournament society, said its president and founder Richie Warren.

“We’ll just have to wait until we get further notice and then look at what we’re going to do,” he said.

Coastal Radio’s general manager Bill MacNeil said like others in the building he was surprised to hear the news. If the radio station was to move, it wouldn’t necessarily be an easy transition.

“You get into regulatory control, depending on how far you move — that sort of thing. Obviously, if we’re moving to a building across the street, that’s one thing,” he said.

“We have probably more technical requirements than most businesses would have being a radio station. But, again, it’s very hard to say anything until we know timelines.”